The nearby villas around Plitvice Lakes, where you can find comfortable lodgings. [Photo by Wang Shanshan/China Daily]

A woman in her 50s was seated beside me. She kept smiling and gesturing at me to show what I should do. I had nausea from the ride, and she suddenly put one arm around my shoulder and hugged me. I probably would never do that with a stranger in Beijing.

One hour's ride southward in Croatia, and our bus began to meander through the labyrinth of dilapidated city streets. We were arriving in Zagreb.

Streets beside the bus terminal were covered in graffiti. It was evening time, and people in working suits were waiting for buses, which were so worn-out that they would not often appear in Chinese cities today.

We didn't find a place to exchange our euros into the Croatia kuna, and without buying tickets, we went on a bus heading for the city center. Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, but still uses its own currency. It was said that, because of the Greek crisis, the EU hesitated whether new member nations should use the euro.

I was seated at the back of the bus, which was as long as two regular buses. Then a small, old man came onboard and began to check the passengers' tickets. I got worried. I became more nervous when he quarreled with a young couple in hippie clothes and threw them off the bus at the next stop.